Weekly Roundup 12-2-2016

Your Roundup of Climate and Energy News for the week ending December 2, 2016 follows. Please forward it to anyone you think might be interested.

Climate

Two new research papers raise concerns about the stability of the Pine Island glacier in West Antarctica. One paper, published in the journal Nature suggests that the glacier started to melt in the mid-1940s as warm sea water flowed into a cavity under it. That melting led ultimately to the rift that formed in 2013 and broke through in 2015, releasing a 225 square mile iceberg. The other paper, published in Geophysical Research Letters, investigated rifts that started in the center of the glacier and propagated outward toward the margins. Those rifts are also being caused by warm sea water under the glacier and are occurring further inland than previous rifts, raising concern about the vulnerability of the glacier to collapse. Maria Gallucci, writing at Mashable, has further information about the papers.

Also, on Friday of last week the Arctic Council released its Arctic Resilience Report in which they documented four tipping points that may have already been triggered: growth in vegetation on tundra, which replaces reflective snow and ice with darker vegetation, thus absorbing more heat; higher releases of methane from the tundra as it warms; shifts in snow distribution that warm the ocean, resulting in altered climate patterns as far away as Asia, where the monsoon could be effected; and the collapse of some key Arctic fisheries, with effects on ocean ecosystems around the globe. Meanwhile, the Norwegian archipelago of Svalbard is likely to have an average annual temperature above freezing for the first time. A number of factors associated with climate change, including the loss of sea ice have led to this situation.

Bolivia may serve as a case study of the impacts of drought and climate change on countries dependent of glaciers for part of their water supplies. The country is in a prolonged drought that is having a major impact on the poorest regions of the country, leading to migration and social unrest. On the subject of South America, illegal deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon has increased 29% since 2015, bringing the rate to its highest level in eight years. The finding has raised fears that the country could lose a decade's worth of progress in forest protection.

A large study published in Nature combines data from 49 field experiments located across North America, Europe, and Asia to examine the impact of warming on the loss of soil carbon to the atmosphere. The authors conclude that their data provide strong empirical support for the idea that rising temperatures will cause more carbon to be lost than is stored, leading to a positive feedback that will accelerate warming. Although independent of this study and its dire implications, an editorial in Nature Geoscience calls for increased research in climate remediation, including even studies on managing incoming solar radiation, but particularly studies on enhanced weathering to return atmospheric carbon to the soil.

Bloomberg Markets reports “Kinder Morgan Inc. and Enbridge Inc. won Canadian government approval for two pipeline projects -- a long-awaited boost for the oil industry that could potentially expand exports, open new Asian markets and lift prices for locally produced barrels of crude.” Prime Minister Trudeau was quoted as saying "The fact is oil sands production is going to increase in the coming years. Because we are at capacity in terms of existing pipelines, that means more oil is going to be transported by rail in the coming years if we don’t build new pipelines." Meanwhile, in the U.S. gas pipelines are being re-engineered to allow bidirectional flow, meaning that by 2017 many older pipelines will be able to carry gas from the Marcellus and Utica shale fields in the northeast to the Gulf Coast for export.

Although China has reiterated its plans to push forward on climate action, it is scrambling to mine and burn more coal, The New York Times reports. Meanwhile, on the other side of the globe, the EU will begin phasing out coal subsidies and cut its energy use by 30% by 2030, under a major clean energy package announced in Brussels on Wednesday. The 1,000-page plan also proposes measures to cut household electricity bills, integrate renewables into power markets, and limit use of unsustainable bioenergy. The plan, which was widely criticized by environmental groups, must be approved by both the Council of Ministers and the European Parliament before becoming law.